MTN: PCCW Global deal will extend reach

Companies / 6 February 2014, 08:00am

MTN has concluded an agreement with PCCW Global that will help it grow into countries in Europe, Asia and North America where it is not already present. PCCW Global, a division of HKT, a leading Hong Kong telecoms firm, owns one of the largest internet protocol networks worldwide. The deal will enable MTN’s enterprise customers with global operations to communicate with their satellite offices worldwide. The enterprise segment is receiving attention from cellular network providers that want to diversify their sources of revenue. Locally, Vodacom South Africa has bid for Neotel to scale up its enterprise offering. Elia Tsouros, the acting executive for MTN group enterprise business, said MTN would offer wide area network, local area network and managed customer premises equipment services in markets in which PCCW had a presence. MTN launched its global virtual private network last year in countries including South Africa, Kenya and the UK. Further expansion would take place over the coming months, Tsouros said. A virtual private network is a private network that uses public telecoms infrastructure such as the internet to securely connect remote offices to an organisation’s network. MTN fell 1.95 percent to close at R194.03 yesterday. – Asha Speckman